It was my impression when it was added that the Series entity was meant to track officially curated and published series of release groups, releases, works, etc. However, there are a few series floating around MB that are more like collections than series, e.g. Target CDs and Purple Vinyl.
I noticed that Style/Series hasn’t been updated in ages, so it doesn’t give much guidance on this type of scenario. Should the Series entity be used for something so nebulous, or is it pretty much anything goes?
(Full disclosure: I’ve never attempted to put together a collection, so I have no idea if multiple editors can contribute to one or not.)
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Multiple editors can contribute to Series the same way they can for everything else (save areas, instruments and genres)
Musicbrainz has always been about the inclusion of more data and NOT the exclusion of data, so I don’t even think this is something we should “discuss”
a few more points here
https://beta.musicbrainz.org/edit/63329138
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Since a few days ago, multiple collaborators can contribute to a collection but the owner still has to designate collaborators.
Another type of collection, completely open to anyone, is in a ticket but not yet worked on, and I don’t know if it will be decided to do it.
So it is not yet possible through collections, but it is through tags, indeed.
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I am wondering if we shouldn’t merge the two concepts of series and collection, at least technically share the code behind it, to have one less entity type to manage in MBS.
Or series and label, like Discogs does.
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I see SERIES and COLLECTION as very different.
A Collection is some personal thing that someone holds. Like I have a collection of my CDs. The only relation is that I am the owner. It is a private list, but maybe I want to share it with my mates.
A Series is more about what is out there that is related. It is a relationship someone else has set the rules for and of interest to others. I have made a number of Series of Various Artist releases to tie them together. That way when a user is looking at one release then can see a link to the next one in the series.
A series of “hits of the 70s, 80s, 90s”. Or the obvious the “Now that’s what I call music” series.
I see a series as a way of helping keep a group of related items together. Especially if they were released in a date or numerical order.
This is especially good when the coverart script is in act ( thanks @jesus2099 )
I know I have a few more examples but can’t think of them now. But this does say to me keep collections and series separate as they are good at doing their different tasks.
My favourite use of a series is to make sure you can find related releases that otherwise get lost in Various Artists.
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I don’t have an opinion on the main topic, but I do take issue with this statement (and a more intense one made in the edit comments).
Everything should be up for discussion. The thought that there may be a list of forbidden topics gives me the shivers.
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Yes of course I agree, my choice of wording is very poor here. Willingness to openly discuss everything is another cornerstone of this project imho
I’m going to tell a little story here to help inform my opinion.
In the early days of the project all style and basically every issue was done through mailing list.
There was a very specific way to request new features that was a little convoluted and (sorry about the negative part here but this is my opinion of the times) the mailing list participants at the time weren’t very kind to both new users and anyone who went outside of structure. (of course i don’t think its like that now and hasn’t been the case for well over 10 years).
So because of that I was very apprehensive to make an improvement proposal/suggestion, and it actually took a while to officially make my first propsal, which was actually the samples relationship.
Most famous example i can use:
Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice uses samples from Under Pressure by David Bowie & Queen
well what I got was email after email most saying either…“i wouldn’t use this type of relationship” …or “I don’t like hip-hop” and was very frustrating to go through that whole process.
Ok sorry for long story…fast forward to now, and to me this feels like the same thing a case of “i wouldn’t use this series” type argument comes back at me and i felt personally insulted by that.
I know i’m probably blowing this out of proportion but I am still quite peeved at all this
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